tests-and-backends

name	tests-and-backends
description	pytest marker conventions for backend-tagged tests in TVBO, the slow/julia markers, and how to run the test suite locally.
metadata	{"audience":"maintainer","applies_to":["tests/**","pyproject.toml"],"tags":["tests","pytest","backends"]}

Tests and Backends

TVBO's test suite is backend-tagged: every backend integration test carries a marker so CI can run a subset depending on which extras are installed.

Registered markers ([tool.pytest.ini_options].markers)

Marker	Meaning
backend_core	Backend-agnostic core simulation tests
backend_jax	JAX backend
backend_tvb	TVB backend
backend_pyrates	PyRates backend
backend_tvboptim	tvboptim backend
backend_julia	Class-level Julia tests (any Julia-backed sim)
backend_julia_diffeq	DifferentialEquations.jl
backend_networkdynamics	NetworkDynamics.jl
backend_mtk	ModelingToolkit.jl
backend_neuroml	NeuroML/LEMS
docs	Quarto/Jupyter notebook execution tests
julia	Needs a Julia runtime via juliacall
slow	Long-running; excluded by default — pass --run-slow to include

When adding a backend test, always apply the matching backend_* marker. CI uses these to filter.

Running tests

# Fast, default subset
pytest

# Include slow tests
pytest --run-slow

# A specific backend
pytest -m backend_jax

# Exclude Julia entirely
pytest -m "not julia"

Test layout

• tests/ — the canonical suite.
• dev/test/ — exploratory scripts and notebooks. Not picked up by pytest.

Pytest config

• Default options: -n 1 --dist=loadscope (single-process, group-by-file). Don't override globally unless you have a reason.
• New markers must be registered in pyproject.toml or pytest will warn (--strict-markers).

Adding a new backend marker

Edit [tool.pytest.ini_options].markers in pyproject.toml. Add the optional-dependency group under [project.optional-dependencies] so users can pip install tvbo[<backend>]. See the codegen-templates skill for the full new-backend checklist.